


Animal Jam

by vvingblade



Series: our snapshots, our stories [2]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Animal Transformation, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, post kh3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 23:35:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17672270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vvingblade/pseuds/vvingblade
Summary: Aqua contains her laughter as she bends down to collect her own friend."Only you all would get yourselves into these situations," she says, holding her hand out for Ventus to climb into."Wenk," he intelligently responds._____________The boys bite off more than they can chew, but what else is new. Good thing Aqua and Riku are here to help.





	Animal Jam

**Author's Note:**

> I am incapable of writing anything short and silly it seems. Why is this so long.
> 
> Slight KH3 spoilers peppered throughout, nothing major!
> 
> [EDIT: Now a part of a series!]

It's such a beautiful day at the Land of Depature- the weather is perfectly mild, the sun above shines without a single cloud to obscure it's rays. Everything seems alive with light and song, such a far cry from how her home looked when she left it that it still sometimes makes Aqua breathless- that she gets to have this again when she thought it was lost to her and hers forever.

And on such nice days, she and Ven always invite their fellow wielders to join them on their home world- to train or just to enjoy one another's company. Aqua is always up for a picnic on the castle grounds, and some of her most fond memories now include a group of loud teenagers plowing through a picnic basket and laughing without a single restraint.

She'd like it more if Terra could be here.  But shortly after the War, he'd said he needed some time. To find himself, to _forgive_ himself, to figure out who he was going to be from here on out. Two heavy hearts saw him off, but never let go of the promise- he wouldn't be gone long. He'd be home soon. _(He'd made Master Eraqus a promise after all.)_

So it's Riku who's here with her. It had initially been him and Sora, her and Ventus, when they'd gotten a assist request from Roxas. He'd been off chasing a pesky Heartless that had given them trouble, and Roxas was second to none when it came to tracking things down. The whole _'Roxas the bloodhound_ ' joke had been made several times.

A request for assistance from Roxas was a serious one.

Ven immediately volunteered himself to go- as he usually did when either requests came in or Roxas asked for his help. To the surprise of all, the two had became incredibly close, enough so Ven would teasingly call Roxas 'little brother' to no retaliation. He was the only one who's ping was green- specifically requested. So it wasn't shocking that he jumped at the chance to spend time with Roxas. Sora was content to let it be just the two, but Ventus insisted he come along, because

_"When we the last time we hung out, just the three of us? And doesn't a hunt sound fun?"_

And so Sora had trapised along after then, leaving just Aqua and Riku. Not that they minded- they enjoyed one another's company and Riku was always eager to learn what Aqua was willing to teach him- Master to Master.

They're sparring when there's suddenly a racket- a terrible high pitched beeping and wailing reminiscent of a fire alarm. The noise startles them hard enough that Riku throws up a barrier imln a hair trigger response to danger, and Aqua instinctively whirls around, Keyblade poised to _attack_.

It takes them both a second to realize that there is no immediate threat, and instead the noise is being made by Riku's Gummiphone left sitting on one of the stone benches. It's vibrating so hard It's in danger of falling off the bench entirely.  
It still takes them both a second- for Riku to take the barrier down, for Aqua to forcibly uncurl herself from a battle stance. Riku comes back to himself first, able to shake the battle-panic that had been forced to the forefront of his mind. It's taking quite a bit longer for Aqua but he doesn't blame her. She spent a decade on constant alert, constant fighting and swinging and casting to stay alive, to keep moving. So he says nothing and pretends to not notice her struggling to control her breathing, and instead jogs over to collect the Gummiphone. It's never made this noise before. He's not sure what it could mean.

Picking up the phone and unlocking it finally silences the terrible wailing. The screen has a large exclamation point, blinking red and demanding urgent attention- apparently the phone has received an emergency distress message from another Gummiphone. It's from _Sora's_ Gummiphone. Riku makes a thin noise that comes from somewhere around his throat, swallows down the panic that threatens to rise up the way it always does when ( _his_ ) Sora is threatened.

Chip and Dale were always working to add new features to the Gummiphone, and this is a fairly new addition. The emergency mode would allow for both text and video in order to get in contact with the nearest other warrior of light's phone it could connect with, sending a distress message to hopefully call others to their side. Riku was hoping they'd never have to use it.

He taps the exclamation point to read the message attached.

 ** _'snf92 &#75nfl doe9yn%*q ieu fog9w73m <$?fspe_**'

What.

Riku stares at the message, squinting at the mass jumble of letters and numbers and symbols. For a second he thinks maybe it contains some sort of cypher- so he reads it backwards, forwards, and in every secret language he and Sora know and any Sora was likely to send encoded for only Riku to decipher. After a few long minutes he gets nothing. The message seems just as nonsensical as it seemed at first glance.

"Let me see."

Aqua's soft voice over his shoulder startles him, but only just so. A quick glance shows she's come back to herself, no longer ashen and struggling to breathe, haunted by her experiences. He passes the phone to her, brow still furrowed in confusion.

"That make any sense to you? I tried seeing if it has any sort of secret message, but if it does I can't read it."

"Maybe a cypher?" Aqua offers, also squinting in confusion at the mess of a message. Riku shakes his head.

"Not one me or Sora know. Ven and Roxas are both with him right? Maybe one of them sent the message."

"It's not any sort of cypher Ven would have sent; I would have known it too. And Roxas would have just used his own phone..."

They both stare down at the mess of a message, and then glance at each other. Riku shrugs.

"May as well still go check it out, right?"

Aqua smiles, and nods.

"A distress message is a distress message. Let's go check and make sure they're ok." She taps the phone a few times, pulls up the display to where the message was sent from. It's sent from a world called the Great Forest.

 _Bambi's world_?

Riku frowns but puts his phone back into his pocket. Donald and Goofy were off with the King- so it's unlikely it was a social call. The world order has to be preserved. Meaning without Donald's magic, there was no reason they should have been in the Great Forest without disguises unless...

Unless...

"The Heartless they were chasing must have wandered there next," Aqua muses from behind him. 

Riku nods. "It's the only thing that makes sense."

Sora and Ven tend to forget the concept and importance of world order, but Roxas is hyper aware of it all times. He wouldn't let them forget. To charge forth into a world without any sort of magic to preserve it meant that there was no other choice.

"Let's go," Riku says, pulling out his Keyblade. It shines bright for a brief second, before shooting out the light to form a gate. The two face each other and nod- before stepping forward into the gate to be greeted into the world waiting on the other side.

 

_______________________

 

This wasn't what Riku was expecting to find.  He was expecting a disaster of battlefield- trees felled, ground scorched with fire magic, rocks crumbled and destroyed. His friends, battered and beaten on the ground waiting for a rescue. A enemy to fight at least.

"What..."

He's instead greeted by an idyllic scene. Birds singing sweetly as they fly about, a nearby brook babbling as it flows, flowers swaying in the light breeze, sunlight filtered through the trees for a scene that's truly right out of a storybook. It's peaceful. It's beautiful. But Riku and Aqua aren't here to take in the beauty of the Great Forest.

Where are their friends?

Riku fishes out his Gummiphone and checks the distress ping. They're on the right world, basically atop where the ping was sent from. And from Aqua's confused gaze and head shake, she's at a loss as well. Riku grumbles. He can't yell for his friends and draw attention to himself, and his Keyblade isn't thrumming from inside him to alert him to the presence of another Keyblade. They have to be somewhe-

"Was that a bark?"

He heard it too. Riku pauses. Waits.

And there it is again.

A bark.

Riku spins around,  befuddled and confused, as Aqua suddenly strides forward. He follows her, follows the sounds of barking until they're led to a nearly identical clearing. The barking is louder here- and going around a large tree stump reveals a black coat, coiled in a lumpy circle like a nest.

And inside...

"Oh dear," Aqua mumurs.

Bundled in the black coat are three critically adorable little animals.

A little wheat yellow rabbit with startlingly intelligent sky blue eyes, long ears flopped over nearly in it's face, sat quietly and patiently next to a brown puppy. The puppy was sitting, but only just- wiggling in place and wagging his little tail so hard he was in danger of bowling himself over entirely. His ocean blue eyes flickered back and forth, from Aqua to Riku, before letting out an excited little _yip_.

The last and smallest of their little menagerie seemed to be napping- but is startled awake when the puppy actually _does_ topple over them. They let out an affronted little peep as they wiggle their way from under the wildly flailing puppy. The duckling quickly shuffles over to the rabbit's side, settling back down into a little ball of golden yellow feathers. The duckling shoots the puppy a dirty glare, teal eyes narrowed as clicks his beak. The puppy quickly rights himself, and manages to shoot the duckling a sheepish doggy smile, tounge lolling out of his mouth.

All three have fabric about their necks- the puppy a red plaid collar with a Micky Mouse tag, the bunny a black and white checkered bandana,  and the duckling a simple green and gold band.  Making it clear who was who, thought it wasn't at all a hard guess.

Riku sighs, and the noise is mirrored by Aqua behind him.

"Guess this explains that garbled distress message."

He crouches in front of the collective and holds out a hand for them all to sniff. Roxas seems totally unconcered, bunny nose twitching before he shuffles himself around to show Riku his little nub of a tail. Ventus lightly nibbles his fingers, letting out a tiny quack of approval. Sora _launches_ himself, colliding with Riku in a ball of excited whining and barking as he does his level best to cover Riku in kisses. Despite Riku's protests of _"Sora, that's gross, don't lick me, calm down, I'm going to end up dropping you"_ its obvious he isn't truly bothered by the grin threatening to take over his entire face and how his hands are everywhere to pat and pet at the little brown puppy. Sora whines, but manages to calm himself enough that he can be easily cradled in Riku's arms. His tail is still wagging a staccato beat agasint Riku and he still keeps jerking up to lick at Riku's chin.

Aqua contains her laughter as she bends down to collect her own friend.

"Only you all would get yourselves into these situations," she says, holding her hand out for Ventus to climb into.

"Wenk," he intelligently responds.

Ven pulls himself from his little ball, waddling over to her outstretched hand. As with Riku he nibbles affectionately on her fingers, and Aqua can't help but run two fingers over the soft downy feathers atop his head. She's rewarded with his little teal eye lowering with pleasure as he leans into it. She bites her lip to stifle to coo that almost comes out- but she can't be blamed. Ven is the most _adorable_ duckling.  
It's easier to scoop the calm little duckling into her arms than a wild and excited puppy, and Ven immediately tucks his legs in to become a ball of golden feathers as soon as he's comfortably nestled in the crook of her arm.

That leaves Roxas, sitting alone in the rumpled circle of black coat, ears still flopped into his face and turned away from them all. Riku and Aqua cast each other looks. Lea and Xion were still off on their own mission and wouldn't return until late. It's Roxas, who's tough as nails and can take down foes twice his size without breaking a sweat- but bunny Roxas likely doesn't have that same berserker strength. He can't be left to his own devices, at the mercy of their enemies.

After some quiet deliberation between themselves, it's Aqua who bends to scoop the bunny up. It makes the most sense- Sora was a handful when he _wasn't_ an excited puppy, and trying to hold him and a rabbit was a recipe for disaster. Roxas doesn't fight her,  just nuzzles into her arms when she circles them around him same as she did Ven. Ven seems pleased, peeping at Roxas as he shuffles closer and nestles right up next to him. Roxas lets him, simply adjusting himself to provide the duckling with the warmth he clearly craves.

Aqua peers down at the two animals on her arms, and raises an eyebrow.

"I assume a run-in with that transformation Heartless is the cause of this, hmm? Didn't I warn you guys about being careful? After all, it can only transform you if it _touches_ you."

Ven quacks quite sheepishly, tilting his head in embarrassment. Roxas lets out a stream of squeaks and trilling before snapping his mouth shut, seemingly startled by himself and blinking rapidly.

Riku snorts.

"What did you expect? A soliloquy?"

The withering glare Roxas shoots him is somewhat diminished by a cute little nose and floppy ears.

With the situation of their animal friends squared away, Aqua finds herself wondering where their gear is. She can assume their usual outfits are somehow magiked into the collars around their necks, based on the colors and apperances. And their Keyblades likely simply returned to them as they are wrought to do. But what about their Gummiphones? They sent what was some sort of garbled distress message, so the phones should clearly be somewhere... Aqua looks around curiously.

"Ah, there you are."

Taking a closer look at the black cloak, Aqua noticed some odd lumps on the side, stuffed into the sleeves- and turning it out reveals the phones, as they slide out and land in the grass. Sora's is the one that's on, still displaying the message screen and blinking red. With the paw prints on the screen, it's clear Sora has bascially just smacked the screen with his paws until he got the results he wanted. It's honestly not much different from what he does normally with the Gummiphone, so Aqua isn't too surprised. He still isn't all that well versed with the phone despite his time with it. He's not the only one; she and Ven still struggled with just unlocking the thing after all. Not like Roxas, who took to it like a fish to water.( _He's very enthusiastic with social media.)_

Aqua sighs, and waves to catch Riku's attention.

"Riku! Their phones!"

Riku pauses from where he'd been readjusting Sora in his arms. He's obviously pooped out from both the adventure and the sheer amount of energy he expended just bouncing and wiggling in Riku's arms, and seems content to slowly doze off with his head resting on Riku's shoulder. He hadn't even considered their Gummiphones.

"Right." It's easier with a dozing off Sora to scoop the phones up in one hand and stuff them into his surprisingly large pockets. He can always return the phones once the blonds regain fingers capable of fine motor function. As soon as Riku collects them, Sora's finally quits blinking red.

"Well, let's get them back to the Land of Departure. We can see about turning them back there," Aqua says, catching Riku's attention. He nods dutifully, adjusting himself to let Sora rest a but more comfortably on his shoulder, where he's already snoring. A quick look shows that he's not the only one out- Roxas's eyes have closed and his breathing is slow and even,  and Ven has tucked his face into his wing for a quick nap. Aqua laughs softly, and it's so full of affection and love that Riku can practically feel it himself, and his own affection for Sora burns even brighter in the face of it.

"Yeah. Let's get them back."

 

_______________________

 

"Wenk! Wenk! Wenkwenkwenkwenk!"

"Rrrrow! Row row!"

" _WENK_!"

"Sora, don't chase Ven! He can't run with you in this form!"

Aqua is already growing a bit exasperated at playing puppy babysitter while Riku went off to go find Kairi. The spell cast on the boys was an oddly powerful- and oddly specific- kind of spell, the sort of thing that Kairi excelled at. Where Riku and Aqua were magical savants, that extended almost exclusively to damaging and barrier spells- they both had little to no expertise with spells of a technical nature, spells that required scrolls and studying to be cast. Ironically that was where Kairi shined brightest, with her skill with spells of such a delicate nature. Otherwise, Kairi's usual method followed Sora's _smack it until it doesn't move_   stragtegy.

At least she had Terra training her before he left.

Sora pumps the brakes at Aqua's chastising, skidding to a stop and nearly toppling head over heels. The quick stop allows the panicked duckling to frantically run away from him, ducking for cover between Aqua's legs. Ven chatters angrily at Sora, even stamping his little webbed feet once he's safely behind Aqua's feet. Sora just smiles his doggy grin, tail wagging as he whines and slides into a play stance.

Sora is usually a playful ball of energy, but as a puppy that's apparently been turned up to eleven. He's been barking at everything that moves, making himself dizzy with how quickly he chased his own tail, and even tried to entice Roxas into playing with him. A nip to Roxas's flopped ears earned him a kick to the face with powerful rabbit legs, and he'd abandoned that venture. But Ven? With his little duck feet, waddling at a distressingly slow pace? He was apparently free game.

Ventus chatters a stream of noise that Aqua is sure would be a colorful collection of swears if he only had the vocal facilities. He'd make Donald proud. She laughs and dips to scoop him up, tapping his beak gently with a finger.

"Now now, Ven. Try not to be too angry with Sora. He's just excited and wants to play."

Ven still grumbles, but wiggles his little tail in acquiesce. He brightens with a happy _wenk_ when Aqua kisses the top of his head. Aqua turns to Sora with a single raised eyebrow. Sora knows that look. It's what he and the others secretly call the 'Mom Glare'. It's very effective all things considered. He wilts under its strength, burying his nose under his paws with a whine.

"Sora you know better. Stop terrorizing him." She puts a hand on her hip. "He's much smaller than you are, and you could hurt him. You don't want to hurt him, right?"

A sad little whine.

"That's right. You need to be gentle. Ven is much more fragile like this- oh hush, you are," she pauses when Ven lets out an affronted quack, "so gentle playing only."

When Sora stops wiggling and instead sits still, little nose tipped up to make it clear he's listening, Aqua nods and sets Ven down. The duck edges away, winding around Aqua's feet and watching Sora carefully, but Sora just barks at him, adopting a play stance once more. Ven quacks when Sora seems calm enough and waddles forward. Sora bounces a few feet away, and then sits. Ven pauses, baffled. Ven tilts his head and waddles closer. Sora yips and again bounces away before sittting still. He lolls put his tongue, teasing. A few more repetitions and Ven suddenly gets the name of the game- in these forms, Sora can always run him down. So Sora is being the catch-ee, as opposed to the catcher.  
Soon they're playing in earnest, Sora barking and yipping in his excitement as they wind around table and chair legs, Ven happily quacking up a storm as he waddles after Sora as fast as he can go, occasionally flapping his little wings in excitement.

Aqua smiles down at them. They seemed to resolved their previous issue with a simple position change. So she turns her attention to Roxas when he begins thumping his foot. He's sitting up now, as opposed to the ball he'd been curled into upon finding him. He's gazing at Aqua with those incredibly intellegent and serene sky blue eyes, little nose twitching as he waits. Aqua resists the urge to pet him as she crouches down.

"Something you want, Roxas?"

He thumps a foot a few times in response. He steps closer and lifts his paws up and then puts them down again. He then curls to place them on his belly as best he can.

"Are you hungry, maybe?"

Emphatic nodding and a _thump-thump-thump_ of a foot. Of course. She hadn't considered the possible need to feed the boys. After all, Kairi was on her way and they'd be changed back within the day. But they had expended quite a bit of energy bouncing around worlds and fighting a monstrous Heartless. She makes a mental note to talk to Riku about it- because what was some puppy safe food? Duckling safe?

  ' _This requires more work than I thought_.'

Aqua pauses. What's safe for a rabbit to eat that Roxas would also want? She doubts he'd care for romaine lettuce, hay, or broccoli leaves, and she knows that carrots are not exactly healthy for rabbits. Maybe fruit, then? She's not sure about pears or oranges, but she knows apples are a safe bet. And they definitely have some in the kitchens. She holds up one finger to the wheat yellow bunny.

"Wait here a second."

Roxas trills.

The kitchens are only a short jog away. They're massive, grand things, large enough to fit five cooks milling about comfortably and with enough utilities to cook up a banquet. Aqua's lived here long enough that the state of their kitchens no longer shocks her, but she fondly remembers the look of awe on Sora's face as he entered for the first time, looking incredibly out of his depth. He had no talent in the kitchen without Little Chef nestled in his hair but he could appreciate the grandiose kitchen all the same.

The apples are resting in a bowl on the marble island, accompanied by various other fruits. Aqua carefully picks out a green apple- she assumes the less sweet the better- and digs around in a drawer for a knife. Upon retrieval, she cuts the apples into slices-

And then gets a terrible idea. That she absolutely  _has_ to go through with.

 

_______________________

 

Aqua returns only minutes later, holding a plate with a pile of apple slices atop it, all small enough for Roxas to hold comfortably. She sets the plate on the floor in front of Roxas.

She passes him one of the apple slices- and laughs at the unimpressed face he shoots her at the particular cut. She's trimmed the skin at the top in the shape of a rabbit's head.

It's a left over talent from Ven's first few weeks at the Land of Departure. He hadn't truly been awake- just a husk of a person, unable to process what went on around him, observing everything with submissive detachment. He had been unable to execute even the most simple of tasks without help, and that even included feeding himself at one point. Aqua often had to help him get started, and she found he was faster to reach out himself to grab his food if it was something enticing, and she'd started cutting the apples into fun shapes to encourage him to eat at all. And as a snack he seemed to enjoy the rabbit head apple slices the most.

So she only feels a little bad about how cheesy it is, and Roxas takes the slice anyways, grunting his annoyance. He begins a nibble, seemingly intent on glaring as he did so- but suddenly perks at the sweet taste of the apple and begins to nibble in earnest. Aqua pretends to not notice that he's begun happily honking as he eats. She doesn't think she could contain her laughter if she did.

 

________________________

 

It takes Riku about four hours before he's able to return with Kairi in tow. In that amount of time, Sora has knocked a flowerplant over and spilled dirt all over Ven, Aqua has given Ven a bath ( _and now has the most adorable video of Ven paddling around the sink, occasionally dipping his head into the water_ ,) has had Ven make a flying leap from the top of the staircase, has had Roxas suddenly go into a fit of running around the room and 'binking', has had to stop Sora from chewing up one of Ven's sneakers, and had to rescue Roxas when Ven lured him into a cabinet only to shut the door on him.

All in all, she's exhausted.

But as luck would have it, the boys are exhausted too.

Sora's currently laying on his back, snoozing and every now and again kicking a leg in his sleep. Roxas is layed out next to him, stretched out as opposed to curled into a ball, seemingly just as relaxed. And perched on Sora's chest is Ven, a little golden yellow ball of feathers, rising and falling with each breath Sora takes. They're all right in a patch of sunlight, a prime spot for napping.

Kairi coos as soon as she sees the scene, clapping her hands together.

"Oh my gosh, so _cute_!" She whips out her Gummiphone and takes a picture. "I've got to show Xion and Namine this."  
She taps her phone a few times, sending the picture to the girls in question before putting her phone back. She takes a few careful steps towards the trio as not to startle them- and when she's a few feet away she sinks down to her knees beside them. She reaches out to gently stroke Sora's head.

"Soraaa," she says, voice a sing-song. "Wake up, you hopeless sleepyhead! You're always napping, aren't ya? You guys too, Ven, Rox!"

The puppy snuffles and kicks a leg, but otherwise doesn't rouse. The rabbit also doesn't stir. The duckling, at least, cracks an eye open, but it quickly slides closed again when he sees who it is. Kairi smiles, and gently strokes down Ven's back with a hand.

"Well, if you won't wake up, I can't be blamed for the results!" She teases, wagging a finger at the small pile of sleeping animals. She looks over her shoulder to Riku and Aqua.

"It's a odd spell placed on them, really chaotic kinda magic, but I'll see what I can do."

Aqua smiles and nods.

"That's all we can ask for. Thank you, Kairi."

Kairi's smile grows soft and fond as she nods back,  before turning to the problem in front of her. She stands up, then backs away a few steps. After a deep inhale and exhale, Destiny's Embrace pops into her hand, and with an ease born of practice, she points her Keyblade at the boys.

The light that shoots from the tip of her Keyblade is a soft blue, and it wraps around the boys like a shroud. As it begins to sparkle and glow, Kairi  adds another magic pulse- and the resulting flash of light is bright enough to make all three wielders cover their eyes.

When the light finally fades (and the ringing in her ears stops) Aqua is greeted to chattering and movement.

"Ugh. You're so _heavy_ , why are you so heavy, you're _tiny_ -"

"Oof! Don't shove him onto me!"

"How's about we just stop shoving me all together?!"

The boys are a mangled mess of tangled limbs surrounded by a residual magical fog, snarking at each other as they try to unfurl themselves. Kairi laughs.

"I warned you guys!" But her face is alight with excitement. "I'm so glad that worked! It was such a weird magic to work with, so I'm happy that...it...oh." Her face falls to stunned bewilderment.

Because the fog was has faded- and the spell hadn't worn off exactly perfectly.

"Oh my."

 

________________________

 

"If it helps," Lea says contemplativley, "I think you could still be intimidating. You've still got a pretty stellar angry face."

Lea is proved immediately wrong when the icy glare Roxas pins him with is promptly weakened by the floppy ears still hanging in his face.

Lea snorts.

"Xion is gonna _love_  this."

"Bite me."

Sora is dealing with own woes- trying to listen and pay attention what Riku is saying, but also struggling with the urge to spin in circles to stare at his own tail. It's wagging helplessly, thumping agasint his legs. He'd already spent a solid 5 minutes rubbing his own floppy triangular ears, nestled neatly into his hair.

Ven is least affected in the bunch- saddled with only a set of small, fuzzy yellow wings adorning his back. They're too small to accomplish flight, or do much of anything with, but Aqua has seem him flap them ineffectually. They're sickeningly adorable, and Aqua has already sneaked in 4 pictures.

Kairi is finishing up looking Ven over, and she steps away with a sigh.

"And the same for you," she says, crossing her arms. "You'll be back to normal, sans wings, in about six hours. I'm really sorry- I know I read the magic right. I'm not sure why some carried over..."

"It's fine," Ven assures with a smile. "It's not so bad! They're not big enough to fly with, but wings are still pretty cool." He flaps them again as if to male his point.

"Speak for yourself," Roxas pipes up, previously angry face having sunk into a pout as he reaches up to tug on his ear. "You're not the one who has to be a Rabbit look-a-like."

"I think they're cute on you!"

Roxas's eyes widen as he promply flushes and turns away, grumbling something about _stupid worthless opnions_.

Ven just beams.

Sora laughs himself at their antics before setting a hand on his hip.

"Well, none of this would have happened if I'd been more careful." His smile is sheepish. "I didn't think it'd be that fast."

"Why do you think I pinged for Ven?"

"Yeah yeah," he says, waving a hand, "but at least it's just temporary! I think Kairi did great."

"Yeah," Roxas agrees, eyes going soft and grateful as he turns to the Keyblader. "Thanks again, Kairi. I really apperciate it."

"Here too! Thanks a million!"

"And you have my gratitude as well, Kairi," Aqua says, stepping forward. "We couldn't have turned them back without you."

Kairi blushes shyly, her smile growing.

"I'm just happy I could help."

Riku smiles at the sight before nodding.

"Alright guys. Think maybe we should start heading home?"

"Oh yeah!" Sora chirps, trotting forward. "I'm drained. And starving!" Kairi is right on his heels with a giggle as they start to walk away and gate home.

Lea stretches. "Think that's our cue. Me and Thumper here will be taking our leave. Gotta catch Xion up, after all."

Roxas rolls his eyes, but he's still following Lea's lead in stepping away. He turns to wave at Ventus and Sora in turn.

"Let's hang out again soon, ok guys? My place this time, and no hunts. Just some video games and bad movies."

Ven excitedly chirps his agreement- and then his brow furrows.

"Bad movies?"

"It's Sora's turn to pick, right?"

The affronted " ** _Hey!_** " is drowned out by the laughter that carries on the dusk wind.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be short and silly so I didnt add that much content ;;; but thanks for reading this mess, I apperciate it!
> 
> Also if anybody is curious, Sora is a 5 month old German Shepard puppy.


End file.
